The present invention relates to a data file storage and management apparatus, and an electronic mail processing program thereof. In particular, the invention can be applied to a data file sharing apparatus for enabling common use of the data files, such as electronic documents or the like, for example, sharing among plural numbers of uses.
Conventionally, a document file is also posted or put into a database being shared in common with plural numbers of users, while using an electronic mail attached with a document file(s), by a user, as is described in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-58542, in particular, in a column [0002] thereof. And, it is also considered into, to give an instruction of searching and taking out a desired one, to a document managing server, in the form of an electronic mail, thereby to obtain the document corresponding thereto from among of those documents stored in such the database, in the Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-58542, for example.
However, in the conventional system mentioned above, the items, which can be instructed to the document management server in the form of an electronic mail, are limited only into, such as, a registration of an attachment document file into the database, and/or a search from the database and a transmission of the corresponding document extracted therefrom. Herein, the search condition is made up through a method of describing only a kind of a search element and contents of the element, into a main text portion of the electronic mail, in such a way, a “keyword” is “plan OR report”, and/or “producer” is “◯□ΔX”, for example.
In case when a user wishes to process or deal with the common document file(s), differently, it can be achieved through setting up the process contents into the document management server, after taking a communication with a system manager side. For example, for achieving storage of a document file mailed from a certain user “A” into a predetermined folder “B”, there is only a way of describing such a software application, within the document management server, i.e., that the processing is processed, as mentioned above.
However, with such the method, there are drawbacks that the software comes to be expansive within the document management server when the process is requested differently in the contents, depending on the user, and also that it is also impossible to deal with changes on the contents of such the processes requested, easily.